1921—1922

One point (beginning of § 12) I shall clarify separately and will write to you 
about it separately.
For the rest I propose: submit for review to Gosplan. Then 
print with deletions (strike out for now the section on replacing the natural tax 
with a monetary tax, etc.).
As for the substance of the matter,—the crux, in my view, lies in two things:
1) how to find intelligent and ruthless people for a purge of all 
the People's Commissariats (plus the Moscow, plus the Petrograd Soviets): cut 
staffing in practice and mercilessly;
2) how to teach our bureaucratic "commercial offices" (including the People's 
Commissariat of Foreign Trade, Mostorg, Petrotorg, etc., and so on) to conduct 
trade and not to engage in red tape.
Why not entrust the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee 
to adopt a resolution:
All People's Commissariats plus the Moscow and Petrograd Soviets 
undertake within a week's time to present a draft resolution on the transfer of all 
employees (everyone connected with the economy) to remuneration based on turnover 
and profit, with severe punishment for losses, sluggishness, negligence, and with 
the obligation to respond to commercial inquiries within 3—6 hours under penalty 
of imprisonment of not less than 5 years.
For the best draft resolution—a prize of 100,000 gold rubles, to be paid after 
a year's trial of the success of this resolution, the amount varying in proportion 
to the percentage of success achieved (100% success equals 100% of the prize, 1% 
success equals 1% of the prize).

Lenin

# TELEGRAM TO THE WORKERS AND ENGINEERS OF AZNEFT
Baku
28 April 1922

During the night of 9 to 10 April, enemies of the working class attempted 
by means of a series of arsons to destroy the Surakhani oil fields in Baku. Having 
familiarized myself with the facts of extraordinary heroism and self-sacrifice 
displayed by the workers and engineers of the fields, who localized the fire in 
conditions of enormous danger to life, on behalf of Soviet Russia I consider it my 
duty to express gratitude to the workers and engineers of the Surakhani oil fields. 
Such facts of heroism best of all demonstrate that despite all difficulties, despite 
the continuous conspiracies of the Socialist Revolutionary and White Guard enemies 
of the workers' Republic, the Soviet Republic will emerge victorious from all trials.

Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars
V. Ulyanov
(Lenin)

# LETTER TO V. A. SMOLYANINOV
15 May 1922

I must call you and comrade Zaks to account,—with a warning that on the 
next occasion stricter disciplinary measures will be applied,—in that, having 
checked the work of comrade Ulrikh, who has been monitoring for several months 
now the implementation of the decisions of the Council of People's Commissars 
and the Council of Labor and Defense, I found enormous disorder.

The card appended hereto defines the form and 
order of work of comrade Ulrikh. Meanwhile the card 
is not being filled out; neither you nor Zaks have supervised this, although this 
is your first-priority obligation. I have instructed comrade 
Ulrikh to fill out the card with the utmost accuracy, strictly to the point of 
pedantry.

I charge you together with comrade Zaks to ensure the most accurate 
fulfillment of this; if comrade Ulrikh does not learn to do so, replace her 
and find an absolutely punctilious executor.

From the appended cards it is evident that comrade Fotieva has also begun, 
like comrade Ulrikh, to alter the card "on her own initiative." This I absolutely 
will not permit. Changes to the card are the right of